Bout of Books 10.0 starts Monday!

I've posted already about the Bout of Books 10.0 read-a-thon, but I wanted to just post again just as a reminder. This read-a-thon starts at the very beginning of Monday (May 12th), midnight in your own timezone, and continues until Sunday night (May 18th).

I highly suggest checking out the blog, if you haven't, and aren't sure if you want to participate. It's a low stress read-a-thon, you set your own goals, and there are challenges if you want to participate in those or Twitter chats.

I've participated in quite a few Bout of Books at this point, my first was 4.0 and then 7.0 to now. So this will be my fifth BoB, and my who knows full read-a-thon tally. I'm definitely not, really, any kind of expert (can you be an expert in read-a-thons?) but I thought I'd share a few tips if it's your first:

• Have fun. Seriously, just - let go of the stress. If you're like me and need a higher goal to push yourself towards, then just make multiple levels of goals, keep your "impossible" goal, hope, to yourself so you don't feel extra stress about it.
• Small books aren't cheating, they're your friends. Or graphic novels, to just slot them between bigger books you're reading, or just so you feel like you're making progress. I never feel like I'm making progress unless I'm finishing books. Short books, graphic novels, and manga are perfect for that.
• Participate / talk to people. Go and click on some people's posts, or just check out the #boutofbooks hashtag on twitter. It's scary, trust me I totally get that, but it's also a ton of fun. I didn't really do this for the first two years or so of me blogging, just because I have a lot of anxiety and talking to people i terrifying. However - book bloggers and such are probably the nicest people in the world (at least from all I've experienced), so just pop into a twitter chat, even for a few minute, or leave your blog link below so I can check out your blog / say hi!
• Just read. No, really, this is a thing you should remember. Talking to people is fun, but don't stay on twitter for four hours or cruise through blogs. Give yourself time limits and get back to reading.

And once again have fun - those are just what I've learned from participating in quite a few read-a-thons over the years. You don't have to listen to any of it if you don't want to, do whatever works for you.

Also there's a slight edit to my TBR, which I'm sure no one cares about, but I wanted to mention it anyway. I'm missing the first two books in the Jill Kismet series, so I might not be able to start that series (they're on the way, and I have the rest, so I will marathon them really soon). And, as of writing this, I've only got two books left in the Dante Valentine series, so I might just be finishing the final book for the read-a-thon.

Do you have any added tips or things you've learned? Leave them in the comments!

My goal post

Twitter